For A Dream
by THE FILLER BUNNY
Summary: Oooooookay. Yes, this is still the same story, but I re-vamped chapter 1 and somehow found myself deleting the whole thing? Oh well. Here is the improved version and I'll have chapter 3 up shortly!
1. Default Chapter

DISCLAIMER  
I do not own InuYasha unfortunately. I only own my character whose name has yet to be revealed.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE  
Because I'm a FREAK who cannot stand her own writing, I went back and totally re-vamped (again) this chapter. Sorry, everyone reading this, I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to. Also borrowed some stuff from Angel/Buffy or whatever you want to call it. It makes sense with the story, otherwise I never would have had it.  
  
Formally known as "The Dream Void", I decided that that title was far to close to Miroku's "Wind Void", so I just changed the title and a few things in this chapter.  
  
Also, if you're like me and don't like to review with some kind of comment or what not, could you just please send a review that says something to the effect: "I read this story" just so I know that my work is actually being read and not just taking up space on Thanks. And oh yeah...GIVE ME YOUR PEANUT BUTTER!  
  
On with the fic!  
  
Chapter 1  
  
The half-demon opened his blood-shot eyes with a groan, feeling the lump on his head beginning to swell. His body was sprawled out on the floor of a shadowed room, only lit by the roaring fire placed about five feet away from his hair. The smells in this place where different than the forest floor that he had remembered falling asleep on and his instincts finally began to kick in.  
"Finally awake, I see."  
InuYasha jumped off of his stomach and landed gracefully with a fierce expression on his face. He looked for the origin of the voice and saw a pair of tiger-green eyes staring skeptically at him over the fire. The form stood up, revealing a short, drastically thin woman. Her hair hung messily down past her shoulders and shown a deep chestnut brown. She took a few steps towards him and her long, black gown trailed behind her.  
"Like a swan..." She cocked her head to the side and inspected him, her deep voice reverberating off of the unseen walls. "Not what I expected, but, then again, I don't understand what the Powers That Be are doing most of the time anyway."  
"Who the hell are you? And where am I?"  
"Aren't you the unpleasant one." She took something out of a hidden pocket of the gown and tossed it on the fire. It instantly grew ten-times its size, the intensity causing InuYasha to jump backwards a few feet.  
The shadows drew back from the room and the actual size of it was clear. The half-demon inspected the place and stepped backwards. The walls were made of crystal, reflecting the light of the fire in all different directions. The ceiling was completely black, no light entering or escaping. The dog-demon sniffed the earth, expecting it to be cool and wet. What he got was the sent of very aged dirt.  
"What the hell is this place?" InuYasha demanded, ignoring her peering eyes that followed his as he scanned the chamber.  
"This is the place," she began, tossing more powder onto the fire making it wild, "Where the unconscious mind is sent when unable to control-" She paused and turned her back towards the silver-haired demon.  
"What?" he commanded impatiently. If I'm gone too long, everyone will think something's wrong.  
"Their inner demons."  
"What?"  
She let her hands fall limply to her sides and breathed deeply. "The Powers That Be sent you to me obviously to help you figure something out."  
He was growing more irritated by each syllable. "What I need to figure out doesn't require the help from the likes of you, so just send me back to camp before I get even more annoyed."  
The woman hesitated. She wanted more than anything to snatch the opportunity to argue with him that was hanging so seductively in front of her, but was more interested in her next question. If it meant that she could keep him around for a little while longer, she'd bend over backwards and do a dance on her head. It was a very lonely job, being the Dream Mistress, and having no one to keep her company-save for magically-induced fire that occasionally sent scenes of lives she would never have a chance to live."Why are you so intent on getting back to camp?"  
Anger and frustration reaching its peak; he went off before thinking about it. "Because I can't leave those four alone for three seconds without one of them being kidnapped or in some kind of danger! Because if I'm not there, Naraku will try to use the opportunity to take the jewel shards! Because if I'm not there, something might happen to Kag-" He halted out of annoyance, cursing himself silently for revealing so much about his world to this woman whom he hadn't even been introduced to yet.  
She had her hands up covering her mouth, unable to contain the smile that was slowly spreading across her lips. When he stopped his rant, she rushed forward several paces and furrowed her brow. "What might happen? And to whom will this injustice occur? Now you've gone and gotten me interested."  
InuYasha snarled and spun around, crossing his arms over his chest, muttering something along the lines of "Feh!"  
"Fine. Be that way." Her sudden drop in sarcasm made him hesitate momentarily, but he just snarled and concentrated on staring at the colors on the wall. "We'll see how well you do next time we meet."  
Confused, he turned his head to glare at her out of the corner of his eye, seeing if he could read anything from her expression or scent. His eyes bulged out in shock when he saw her about two feet away from his face. She had a complacent look in her eyes, as if she knew something that was really important, and raised her hand to point to his nose.  
"Sweet dreams, InuYasha."  
As she said it, a white powder, much like the one she threw on the fire, clouded his vision and clogged his lungs. He coughed and sputtered, clutching at his throat as if he could remove the powder with his clawed hands. But just as quickly as it happened, it stopped, and everything was clear again.  
InuYasha opened his eyes and found himself, back against an old tree, the Tetsusaiga sitting casually on his lap. He looked around quickly, snapping his head in all directions to make sure he got every inch of the surrounding completely memorized.  
Have I completely lost my mind? he thought, smacking his head with the heel of his palm several times. No, it was just a dream.  
The fire was dying, small and insignificant. The wind was cool and harsh against his face and the leaves rustled through the tall grass. Miroku and Sango were sound asleep, his arm somehow managing to fall across the small of her back. InuYasha chuckled to himself, finding great satisfaction in the morning smack that he was going to receive. Shippo was sleeping peacefully on Kirara's tail, relishing in the warmth that it brought. But when he went to check on Kagome, his rant towards the woman in the dream world replayed in his mind.  
He stood up and moved closer to her sleeping figure. Plopping down beside her head, he leaned forward and inhaled her scent. He loved her scent. It was always the same sort of fresh lilac, and that ridiculous soft rock she rubbed all over her body when she took what she called "baths". Lilac fascinated him, as he had been unfamiliar with that particular flower up until the time he'd met her. Every moment after that had been filled with that alarmingly sweet, delicate scent.  
From what he understood, the flowers were significant in and of themselves, if for no other reason than they were pale violet. That color was of some little interest to him, because this sort of half lavender, half gray was the same color the shards of the Shikon No Tama took whenever Kagome was near. He wasn't sure what the significance of the color purple was, but he guessed that it had something to do with the way Kagome's eyes constantly shifted between pale violet and storm-cloud gray.  
Her mouth opened slightly with each breath she took, and her dark tressed laid in all different directions, having no rhyme nor reason to where it fell. Her small, soft hands were up by her face, shielding her neck as if someone would bite it.  
Now, if only I could keep you just like this, he thought wrinkling his forehead, then you would never be in any kind of danger.  
  
SOMETIME LATER…  
  
"InuYasha?"  
"Do you think he's really asleep?"  
"I don't know, he's never sleeping when the sun's up."  
Something long and pointy lodged itself between the hanyou's neck and shoulder and the victim's eyes shot open, bloodshot and angry. Kagome was kneeling very closely to him, inspecting his sleeping form, while the other three stood back, Miroku's staff held dangerously close to InuYasha's face.  
"Back off!" the half-demon cried, more out of surprise than anger. "Can't a person sleep around here without being pocked with a stick?!"  
Kagome made a face as the dog-demon stood up quickly, brushing the dust off of his kimono. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to be nicer once in a while, InuYasha!"  
"Feh."  
"-As I was saying last night," Miroku interrupted, extinguishing the argument that was shortly to follow, "there's a small town on the edge of the mountain side that we should probably look in on."  
"Why?" Sango asked, cocking her eyebrow.  
"We need to restock our supplies if we're going to continue our search for Naraku."  
The half-demon jumped up from the ground and took a few steps away from the group, thinking. "Wait a minute," he said finally, "isn't that town supposed to be Amazon-run?"  
Miroku ignored the probing eyes. "Perhaps. It's been a while since I was last there."  
The girls sighed. The demon-hunter grabbed hold of her weapon and swung it over her shoulder. "Well, if it's the closest town around, we should stop by if for no other reason than to ask if they've heard anything."  
"So are we in agreement that we're going there next?" Kagome asked, awaiting the usual affirmative response.  
"Fine." InuYasha started walking, arms folded into his kimono, head down in a deep trance.  
Kagome opened her mouth, but closed it again, suddenly forgetting the importance of her original statement. Come to think of it, the girl wasn't particularly interested in any kind of answers to her questions, just trying to make useless conversation. For the past week, the silver-haired demon in the group had been acting oddly and she had a very bad feeling that it had something to do with her.  
  
THOUGHT BUBBLES…  
  
Kagome's eyes fluttered open. It wasn't quite dawn and the wind was still cool on her face. She peeled off the top of her sleeping bag and stood up, rubbing the last remnants of sleep from her eyes. Her legs were still weak from the deep rest she had been pulled out of, but the campfire soon brought warmth to her rigid body.  
Every morning, InuYasha was the first to get up to start the fire for everyone, and usually he would be sitting lazily in a nearby tree, gazing out into the new day. He would be thinking of Kikyo, the young girl knew it, so she tried to stay asleep as long as possible so she wouldn't have to awake to see his sad and longing face.  
That morning, though, as she looked around, she couldn't find the hanyou anywhere. Shrugging her shoulders, she sat down in front of the fire and watched as the sun sunk into the sky. A smile spread over her face as she thought of her family waking up back in her time to the same shining sun.  
It was deathly silent around their camp, almost abnormally silent. Kagome strained her ears to hear any signs of life and frowned when she found nothing. This lack of noise was actually beginning to frighten the girl and she wrapped her arms tighter around her knees.  
A dry leaf crackled behind her and she jumped to her feet and spun around in surprise. InuYasha stepped out of the thicket, his head hanging low and silver bangs casting most of his face into shadow. He was deep in a trance, seemingly forgetting that there were others around him, sleeping or not. His arms hung limply, save for his right hand that held the handle of the Tetsusaiga firmly.  
"Inu…Yasha?" Kagome jumped to her feet, keeping her distance from the deeply subdued half-demon.  
He was muttering something that was almost completely incoherent, but Kagome was able to grasp some of it. "Kikyo," he whispered, "I'm…sorry… …love…her…you…?"  
"InuYasha?" The onyx haired girl took a couple of steps farther away from him, her hands hugging her sides in fear. "InuYasha, it's me…It's Kagome."  
He suddenly stopped moving and his hand clutching the sacred sword went dead. He raised his head slowly, growling from the back of his throat. The hair hiding his eyes parted and the dull gleam that was there began to bleed away. The gold shine began to take its place and the two of them just stood there, staring at each other as if one were about to attack.  
"Kagome?" He blinked several times and shook his head stubbornly, temporally ignoring the terrified glances he was receiving from the girl. His eyes were now completely back to normal and his usual face of seriousness slowly began to lurk its way home.  
Again, the two didn't say anything for what seemed to be an eternity. InuYasha could smell the fear radiating off of the girl standing before him and guilt crept into his heart. Her eyes were frozen in terror and confusion and the color had completely left her cheeks.  
"Kagome? What happened?"  
She stammered at first as if afraid to say the wrong thing. "Eh…you tell me."  
Before thinking if it were a good idea or not, he closed the gap between them, looking down at her with intense eyes. "Was I saying something?"  
She shook her head quickly, ignoring her initial impulse to tell the truth.  
It was then that InuYasha realized that it was not he who she was afraid of. She was completely calm now, her scent returning to normal. Before, she had not been afraid that he was going to kill her, but more so afraid that he did not realize the difference between her and an enemy. More guilt flooded his mind and he silently cursed himself. He should never have left the camp. If he had stayed, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to speak with Kikyo and hence wouldn't have heard what she had to say to make him temporarily loose his control on reality.  
"I'm sorry, Kagome," he whispered with a tenderness he didn't realize still existed within him, hanging his head down to his chest. "I'll never hurt you, I promise. I'm sorry that I scared you."  
"It's okay," she replied obligatorily, feeling suddenly sorry for him. Standing on her toes, she gave him a swift kiss on the cheek and smiled warmly.  
Her actions left him stunned. He half expected her to yell at him, telling him that he should be more careful or something along those lines. This took him completely off guard.  
  
END THOUGHT BUBBLES…  
  
"Kagome? Are you okay?"  
The raven haired girl blinked. InuYasha's face was about an inch away from hers. "What?"  
He took a step backwards and crossed his arms, making a funny face like he wasn't sure if he were more annoyed or concerned. Shippo jumped into the girl's lap and stared up. "Your eyes got all funny and your weren't saying anything when we talked to you."  
"I'm fine," was her reply, not believing the small, little girl's voice belonged to her.  
"Kagome, are you sure everything is okay?" Miroku said, stretching out his hand to assist her.  
Why is everyone so much taller than I am suddenly?… Kagome looked around perplexed and realized she was on the ground, her legs bent awkwardly underneath her. How did I get here? Weren't we all walking a minute ago?  
Taking his hand, she pulled herself up and waited a moment for her balance to catch up to her. Dusting off her skirt, she looked up and saw looks of shock and dread.  
"Kagome…" Sango rushed closer to the younger girl and pointed down to her legs. "What happened?"  
A chill ran up her spine and a sudden sharp pain burned through her legs. She looked down as if in slow motion and a single tear fell from her eye, landing on the blood-soaked dirt below her. From her waist down, she was covered in blood, her ankles completely torn up and a part of her right knee twisted unnaturally. Her lower abdomen was sliced through, blood pouring down her sides and only adding to the pool beneath her feet.  
She looked up in apathy, searching the eyes of her party. Miroku and Sango were standing together, his arm for some reason protectively around her. Shippo was sitting on the transformed Kirara, teeth gnashing. InuYasha stood closest to her, though, his arm held out to her and the Tetsusaiga pulsating in his other hand. It was then that she noticed that it wasn't her blood that had temporarily paralyzed them.  
Kagome followed InuYasha's eyes to behind her, and with a subtle groan, she turned around. There standing, eyes scarlet, was Naraku, his sword bloodied by what must have been the raven haired girl. He smiled cynically at her, his eyes cutting through her like his sword apparently had. She opened her mouth to scream, but before her breath could leave her lips, his sword plunged itself back into her abdomen, tearing itself upward towards her heart.  
What's happening? InuYasha…someone help me! 


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER  
I do not own InuYasha unfortunately. I only own my character whose name has yet to be revealed.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Rosalind sat with a sour expression as she gazed into the fire that blazed before her. Her eyes shown a deep, forest green, as they usually did when the woman was in such an abysmal mood. She moved slightly, and - as if of its own accord - the long, black gown laid itself out, all around her. The straps that held it up slipped off her shoulders, in a feeble attempt to give her more room to breathe. The long, chestnut-brown hair that fell over her eyes was shoved backwards furiously, an expression of irritation and aggravation.  
"So the girl was given premonition…fascinating." She struggled to her bare feet and threw another handful of powder onto the fire. The picture of InuYasha and his companions dissipated and the Dream Mistress massaged her temples. "This will be difficult for me to explain."  
  
"What's wrong with her?" InuYasha demanded. His question was directed toward the monk, who was bent over the raven-haired young girl. Her face was pale and her breathing was slow. She looked so peaceful, and usually there would be no question as to what was wrong, but the fact that she randomly passed out after crying out in pain made all who cared for her leap to her side in concern.  
"I honestly don't know…I've never seen anything like this."  
A chilling minute ticked by as the four people stood around their friend. The wind picked up and rustled the tree branches around them. It swept around the girl, helpless on the ground, and before anyone could say anything more, a sharp, painful gasp left the sleeping miko's lips as she shot up in horror.  
InuYasha was almost instantly by her side, stepping over Shippo, and collected the sobbing girl in his embrace. Her fragile body was trembling terribly as she clutched hold of the hanyou's neck and shoulders, unable to decide what to hold onto tighter. He could smell her fear pouring off of her and swallowed hard to keep from exploding with anger.  
"InuYasha…" she cried, pounding her fists against his chest, "What's…happening …to me?"  
With shaky hands and rage-filled eyes, she tore the bottom of her school blouse apart, probing fingers racing over her torso as if looking for something that wasn't there. A small blush crept into InuYasha's cheeks. She was, after all, still on his lap.  
"Kagome," he said soothingly, grasping both her hands in one of his, "You're okay now."  
She looked up at him, tears running in rivers down her cheeks. Her eyes shown a deep violet, pulsating with pain, fear, torment, and anger. Her stare froze his blood solid and for a very long time he could do nothing more than gaze back. The first and only person he could think of to blame for this blazed over the tops of his eyelids, her dancing eyes and mocking mouth and her overwhelming power that made him feel both helpless and furious at the same time. She was to blame!  
Miroku looked over at Sango and she returned his worried gaze almost instantaneously. Shippo was sitting near Kagome and InuYasha, weeping to himself. The demon slayer trembled and turned her back to hide her repugnant fear. The monk took a step over to her and reached out to stroke her arm soothingly, soon realizing that both his hands were numb from fear. He was just as scared as everyone else was.  
  
The demon in the baboon mask chuckled lightly as he rolled the nearly-completed Shikon No Tama across his knuckles. His wind temptress stepped into the dimly lit room and leaned against the wall, red eyes blazing.  
Without looking up, the hanyou called to her in a voice that was seductively relaxing: "Have you the shard?"  
Kagura took several steps closer, her coy grin hidden. She flattened her hand to her creator and the shard radiated a blinding light. Raising from her palm, it shot over to Naraku, finding its place among the others. The jewel was nearly complete. It was missing only five shards.  
"Good." The half-demon jumped to his feet and glided over to the woman. Stoking her face with soft fingertips, he raised her chin so that he may look her in the eyes.  
"The miko, that Kagome creature," he began soothingly, tracing her jaw with a claw, "She carries two of the remanding five shards. I want you to bring her to me."  
"She is heavily protected, Lord."  
"Not when the moon is dark." His soft and gentle hands grabbed the back of her hair, cocking her head sharply to the side. "Go then with the poisonous insects and she will come of her own free will." He shoved her aside and her red eyes fired furiously at him.  
"What makes you believe that she will come to easily? And besides, your mortal form will only hinder whatever plan you have in mind."  
Naraku chuckled mischievously and sat back down on his original resting place. "Let us just say that I shall send her a little motivation."  
  
The silver-haired hanyou gazed down on the sleeping girl. Once she had been calmed down enough to recall what she had seen, the Company had decided that from now on they would take shifts as a better way to protect themselves against Naraku, he being the only demon who would do anything to get her shards of the jewel. It was decided-by InuYasha-that the hanyou would take the first watch. The more time he had to interrogate the Dream Witch on current events, the better.  
"InuYasha," the monk called, catching the half-demon's eye. "You may rest now."  
"I don't sleep." He wasn't exactly going to make it easy for anyone, even if he was secretly relieved for the rest. Even still, he'd watch Kagome every moment of every day and night.  
He leapt off of the tree branch and snarled. "The fire's dying."  
"I know you are worried about her." Miroku threw another bit of dry wood onto the fire and sighed. "We all are."  
"Yeah well." InuYasha curled up against the tree, the hilt of the Tetsusaiga resting against his folded arms. "If you hear anything, wake me up immediately or it'll be your neck."  
He closed his eyes and concentrated on getting back to the Dream World. His anger had begun to spill over and he wanted to make sure that he saved every ounce of it for the woman holding the doorway open for his dreams.  
  
DREAM WORLD…  
  
Rosalind threw a handful of powder onto the blaze before her, her aggravation becoming more and more apparent with each breath she took. Since she last checked in on InuYasha and his companions, she had begun thinking a little more intensely on why the Powers That Be gave the gift of foresight to the young miko. She had powers of a priestess, but other than that, she had no other magical talents.  
Why this girl… Her concentration was so intense that she didn't even realize that someone was standing behind her.  
"Rosalind."  
The brunette snapped her head to the seductive voice, growling under her breath for letting her guard down.  
"You've proven your point, I can be surprised. Your reason for being here is accomplished, you can leave now."  
The figure stepped into the light of the fire and snickered. "I knew it was possible."  
"I don't do house calls, so leave. Now."  
"You never did."  
"What do you want?" she demanded standing up from her crouching position. "You're not supposed to be here and you know that."  
"I thought you were supposed to help everyone. Completely neutral."  
"Even the most stubborn neutrality has its bias." She raised an eyebrow. "Free will and all."  
"Perhaps…" His long, onyx hair fell delicately against his shoulders as he walked closer. "I need you to tell me where the remanding jewels shard are."  
"I can't do that, Baboon, you know that." She paused long enough to throw her hands into the air. "But I wouldn't even if I could. I won't break the rules, not for you."  
"Then you can at least tell me about the hanyou," he continued, ignoring her last comment. He also didn't seem to mind their game, not surprising to her in the least. She had been through all this with him once before.  
"And which hanyou is that?" Small hands went to protruding hips underneath the yards of fabric. "There are so many in need of council, you know."  
The half-demon snickered cynically and shook his head at her. "You really haven't changed, have you?"  
"Remember, I'm not real. Your little mind games won't work on me."  
"How could I have forgotten? You always took things far to personally." He held up his hands to her and she raised an eyebrow. "There is something wrong with the miko, isn't there?"  
"What would ever give you that impression?" she asked both sweetly and sarcastically.  
"Why else would that accursed half-demon be in need of council?"  
Rosalind clicked her tong against her front teeth and sighed. Her mind couldn't think of a witty enough come-back for the baboon, so she grunted in response.  
"Well it won't matter for much longer anyway." He turned on his heels and began heading back to where he entered. "I will have the remanding Jewel Shards soon enough, even without your help, and InuYasha-" He paused and flung his long, ebony hair over his shoulder. "-as well as his precious miko, will be just a bad dream." He turned. "You know all about those, don't you?"  
Her mahogany locks fell in front of her eyes as they suddenly shone a deep, forest green. Rage was building behind those pools of sight and she felt a twitch in her hand, pushing down the sudden urge to strike him. Instead of violently attacking him she tossed her hair in an expression of pure fury.  
"You never stop amusing me, Baboon."  
"And you, my dear Dream Witch, will never forget her blood vows."  
She scoffed. "I would never risk my soul for a mere half-demon such as yourself." Rosalind threw her hand up and the black hole that Naraku came out of emerged. "This isn't personal, Onigumo, it's strictly business."  
With that, she tossed up her hand again and the half-demon stepped into the portal, disappearing without a trace.  
"No good, evil, seductive, bastard." She sighed again deeply and let her head roll backwards. "Damn it, why did he tell me about the Jewel Shards…I'm not supposed to know about all of that….It's why I gave up that life in the first place. …I hate him…stupid, pretty-faced, sexy-haired son of a whore."  
A growl formed in the back of her throat and her fists went directly to her hips. "This is getting complicated."  
  
"Dream Witch, I have some things I need to say to you." The silver-haired hanyou practically tackled her, eyes fierce and searching for answers to his unasked questions. She had her back to him, staring deeply into the blazing fire.  
"Of course you do." She turned around, disregarding his dog-like instincts telling him to attack. "And by the way, my name is Rosalind. Don't call me Dream Witch."  
He continued yelling, ignoring her request. "What's happening to Kagome and why do I have a feeling that it has something to do with you?"  
"Kagome…well…" She turned her back to him again and walked around the fire. How should I put this without completely confusing him? "She's going through some changes now." Good. Good and vague…now his next question will be-  
"What do you mean changes? What kind of changes?" He grabbed the hilt of his sword and stared at her menacingly. "Listen, lady, you'd better start giving me some answers or else…"  
"Or else what?" she demanded. Don't loose your temper, Rosalind. He's young…in love…naïve… The chestnut haired woman turned her gaze upon Inuyasha, sharpening her eyes to cut through his. But I don't think scaring him will provoke anything completely terrible… Her eyes flashed black and her arms were extended in his direction. Her index fingers were pointed towards him, behind her the fire roared and jumped, as though acting of its own accord. Rosalind closed her eyes of onyx, thinking deeply about where to send him. It didn't take more than a moment for her to decide and soon she had let her arms fall and the fire calm as the half-demon fell to the floor. Unconscious.  
The woman threw her head back and cackled, smiling broadly. "That'll teach you to be cranky with me!" Grabbing his hands firmly in hers, she dragged him over to a blanket that was concealed deep within the shadows and plopped him on top of them.  
With a voice full of sadistic enjoyment, she uttered deeply and smoothly: "Sleep, Inuyasha….Dream deep, meaningful thoughts filled with what you desire…." Turning on her heals, she stretched her hand to the fire. With long, bony fingers, she motioned for it to move closer to her and half of it floated over to the sleeping hanyou.  
Rosalind pulled out a handful of white powder and let it slip through her fingers onto the fire. It died down; tamed itself. It flickered and she ran her fingers through it as if it were a pool of crystal-clear water.  
"When he awakes," she commanded the flame, "send him home. When he's ready to come back he will." She took several steps away and back to her monster fire. She gazed into it and sighed. "I have to make a house call."  
  
"Where am I?" InuYasha asked aloud, squinting his golden eyes to the bright sun. The grass was warm and soft beneath his bare feet and the air smelled fresh and new. The sky was perfectly clear, making the sun practically pop out, beaming down on everything. The absence of trees didn't matter to the hanyou for he was too busy staring at the figure moving closer.  
Her long, ebony hair blew softly in the breeze, her skin drastically paler than he remembered. Her eyes were dark and soothing, showing nothing but pure emotions of love and compassion for him. Her form was small, hidden beneath layers and layers of silk, decorated appropriately.  
"This is a dream," InuYasha told himself, swallowing hard against the lump that was forming in his throat. "She's dead, this is a dream."  
"InuYasha." Her voice was light and sweet, so real it nearly brought tears to his eyes. "My son…."  
In the voice of a child, he called out: "….Mother." 


End file.
